I will NEVER go to this place again, and I suggest you look elsewhere first. This Joe character is a complete Crook! BEWARE!
Truthfully speaking, it's my own fault. My first impression of him wasn't too favorable, I could sense the crookery almost instantly, still I placed my trust in this person. How foolish of me. But he has great reviews I thought... That's why I did it, that's why I trusted.
The car was stalling, it wouldn't start right away, it didn't have much drive power, and the service engine light was blinking. I now know this means my Ignition Control Module needed to be replaced. But let me back track. I pulled up to Joe's (I had already called to ask if I could bring it in to get checked out, he said yes), he plugged the scanner up and the code comes back as 2 cylinders misfiring. Then he says he needs to check it out to see what's wrong with it, but since it's Saturday he can't check until Monday (why didn't he just tell me to bring it on Monday then?). I requested an estimate and he said he'd give me one when he finds out what's wrong.
As I went to the car to transfer our things from our car to the rental car, he decides to ask my gf how much the max was that we were willing to spend (red flag that I totally ignored) to fix it. She came to get me immediately. I told him no more than $500 (it's an older car, 1999 Buick Avenue), and asked how much he thinks it will be. He says he's not sure, but it won't exceed $500.
We ended up leaving the car there. He calls us within 30 minutes of us leaving saying it needs a new Ignition Control Module (but I thought he needed to wait to Monday to check it out). Anyway, I decided to buy the part and just have him install it. This is where I get robbed blind by this crook named Joe. I asked how long it would take to install the part, he says a couple of hours. I did some searching for the part and finally found one. I take it in and ask again, how long and how much?
He's still saying a couple of hours and it'll be $175. I asked why so much to install the one part? He says they have to install it, drive it and reset the service engine light. I said that's too much and I rather take it elsewhere (at this point it's Wednesday, the car had been there since Saturday). He says ok but he has to charge for parking and diagnostic test. I was totally fine with paying for the test, but he never mentioned parking until I wanted to take the car elsewhere. So I decided to leave it there and asked if he could work with me on the price, he said sure.
Thursday comes and the car is ready. I get there and he's now saying $150 total, because I asked him to 'work with me.' Instead of argue, I paid, got my car, and left as quick as possible.
I reached out to my mechanic friend (who I should've got the car towed to in the first place, but he lives too far from me) to ask if the price was fair for the work that was done. He said that he robbed me pretty badly. He said that job takes .3 hours and that it should've been about $75 max, depending on where the shop was. So I spent all last night researching how long it would take and how much a job like this would run, my mechanic friend was right, of course. I even came across a 5 minute video (2 minutes was the guy talking) showing you how to install an Ignition Control Module. But Joe said a couple of hours, smdh.
In conclusion, I was robbed pretty badly because I'm not that knowledgeable about cars (like most Americans, I assume). The job took about 5 minutes and this crook charged me $150, but initially tried to charge $175. It's my fault because I should have NEVER left without a written estimate in the first place. You live and you learn I guess.
I will be contacting the BBB and all appropriate local and/or state departments about this guy. I don't care to get the money back as much as I care to warn people. This Joe guy is no different from any other mechanic in LA, he's a crook and you've been warned! read more
